Web Project Management for Academic Libraries

Citation

Mason, D. (2010), "Web Project Management for Academic Libraries", The Electronic Library, Vol. 28 No. 6, pp. 896-897. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471011093606

This book aims to enable academic librarians to deal with the issues that arise when they have to become web project managers as well. The approach of the writing is to recognize that all sorts of library staff may find themselves in charge of a library web project on top of their ordinary work and shows how to survive the project.

It lays out all the tasks that have to be done, walks you through how to do them and gives guidance on how to adapt the processes for any library setting. It also serves as a template of best practice for library administrators, describing each stage and its expected deliverables, so that they can better manage external contractors.

Web project management is presented as five basic activities: understanding and managing the context and environment of academic libraries; setting up and managing your project team; developing the design specifications; the actual management of the project; and wrapping it all up.

The book is aimed at both experienced web developers and those who have never undertaken any kind of internet project. The book goes through every aspect of a library web development from initial idea to post‐launch review but it is presented in such a way that the busy librarian is able to pick and use just those parts that are relevant. The publishers have created a helpful web site to accompany the book with more material to download.

This book is needed because even in a small library someone has to fill all the project staff roles, and all the procedures dealt with in detail in a large project still have to be covered in a small project. The book stresses the point that projects do not fail because of technology, but because of the human factors involved. It therefore spends several chapters on team dynamics, managing the project staff and how the manage the expectations of the rest of the library. The other vital part of a successful web project is the content. The book has three chapters demystifying the process of web specification. One chapter deals with how to go about designing an academic library web site that will serve all the conflicting needs it is subject to, one chapter deals with what a librarian needs to know, and no more, about the main web technologies, and there is a chapter on how to involve others in specifying the content. Taken together, these chapters will allow pretty much anyone to design a competent web site with any specialist training.

The role of web project manager is stressful and time consuming, so it is critical that the librarians assigned to it get the best help they can. This book provides just that help.